Australia batter Steve Smith is in some serious form as the batter has been amassing runs in the ongoing Big Bash League. Playing for Sydney Sixers, Smith has scored two back-to-back centuries and then a half-century. His latest pyrotechnics came against Hobart Hurricanes on Monday (23 January). Smith scored a 33-ball 66 and provided his team with another quick start.
Smith and Josh Philippe put on 55 runs for the first wicket for the Sixers. During their partnership, Smith completely dominated the Hurricanes bowlers, thrashing them to all corners of the park. The batter also capitalized on an error made by Joel Paris early in the innings. In the second over of the Sixers’ innings, Smith scored 16 runs off one legal delivery.
As Joel Paris bowled a good-length delivery, Smith went deep into the crease and played an unusual shot that went for a six. It was found out that Paris had overstepped and hence a free hit was given on the next ball. However, Paris erred yet again and ended up bowling a wayward delivery down the leg side. The ball raced to the boundary resulting in five extra runs for the Sixers. On the next ball, Smith once again managed to hit a boundary, bringing a total of 16 runs for his team.
On the back of Smith’s pyrotechnics and some handy contributions from Moises Henriques (23 off 16), Sean Abbott (13* off 7) and Ben Dwarshuis (30 off 14) propelled the Sixers to 180/7 in 20 overs. Meanwhile, for the Hurricanes, Patrick Dooley was among the wickets. The leggie bagged three wickets in his four overs while giving away 42 runs.